I Like Big Builds and I Can Not Lie — One Chicago Square Has It All

Posted on January 6, 2020 by danieldschell

A rendering of One Chicago Square from the JDL Development website. Dang.

One Chicago Square has it all right now. Construction has started going vertical above street level, but there’s also still a giant pit. There are yellow and orange wooden forms and beams, with blue fencing all around. Classic Chicago architecture, including Holy Name Cathedral and 30 West Chicago Avenue, provides spectacular photo backdrops. Giant round shoring tubes are still visible in the northwest corner. Excavating equipment is still on site. Oh yeah, and THERE ARE THREE TOWER CRANES!

I don’t use the designation “mixed-use” very often. Everything has retail space in it these days, so calling a residential tower “mixed-use” because there will be a drug store at street level isn’t really mixed-use to me. But One Chicago Square certainly qualifies, as it will include apartments and condos, office space, and retail space, all combined into its own city block.

Some project data: One 76-story tower, and one 49-story tower. More than 700 apartments, and 77 condos. 55,000 square feet of office space. Nearly 200,000 square feet of commercial space. And parking? Oh, lots of parking. Over 800 spaces.

And the team? All-Stars. JDL Development, with a hand from Wanxiang America, is the developer. Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture and Goettsch Partners have shared design duties. And Power Construction is the general contractor.

Yeah, One Chicago Square will be fun to watch for a long time. And then, it looks like it’ll be a fun one to live in. Stay tuned.

And now, a ridiculous number o’photos to keep you occupied. Scroll at your leisure:

: Is this a BBQ rig, McHugh?

Sensational Headline To Over-Dramatize A Situation To Make It Sound Much More Serious Than It Really Is [UPDATED]

Posted on June 13, 2019 by danieldschell

Probably not telling you anything you haven’t figured out on your own here…

On July 10, this website will go dark.

Or maybe it won’t; maybe it will still be available to read, but will just be harder to find. Point is, the blog costs money to maintain whether or not I post content here, and since I am no longer consistently posting content, it doesn’t make sense to keep putting money into it. So on July 10, my website expires, and I won’t be renewing. I’m not sure what WordPress does with a domain when it goes back to being an unpaid site; we’ll see in a few weeks.

It was fun to take construction photos around Chicago when I lived in the midst of all the action. Now all the action is a train ride away. And I no longer find myself interested in the construction goings-on that used to fascinate me so much. I no longer enjoy aimlessly wandering the city looking for tower cranes. I no longer enjoy weeding through 100s of images from my camera to find the dozen or so that turned out well enough to share. I no longer enjoy trying to come up with a couple or three sentences to explain what the images captured. When a hobby is no longer fun, it’s work. And when the work doesn’t provide an income, it’s a waste of time. My blog has become a waste of my own time.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for scrolling through photos. Thank you for asking me what was what, what was where, and what would be done when. It was fun sharing answers when I knew them.

Thank you to all the architecture firms, construction companies, and developers who shared their resources, time, and knowledge with me. Special shout-out to everyone at Power Construction, for letting me inside two of your projects as they were going up. I’m still amazed, and forever grateful, for the access you gave me. And to you, FitzGerald, for taking the time to sit down with me on multiple occasions when I had questions.

Who knows, maybe I’ll pick up where I’ve left off someday. But I’ve tried that a couple times already, and it hasn’t worked out. We’ll see.

Thank you again, everyone. Sincerely. Knowing people were reading was the only reason to do this.

Dan

***August 26, 2019: Nothing happened. It’s all still here. I have no idea what I was paying for. Google Analytics, I guess…

I’ve missed a lot; Milieu West Loop Edition

Posted on April 29, 2019 by danieldschell

Milieu (on the Park?) has risen to its full height at Adams & Peoria (205 S. Peoria) in the West Loop.

The last time I walked around Milieu in the West Loop, Power Construction had just set up the tower crane. Now, the tower crane is gone, and Milieu (Is it Milieu on the Park? That’s what White Oak Realty Partners calls it. I kinda like it.) is up. The FitzGerald-designed apartment building is slated to open this summer.

June must be 50s month in Chicago; Essex on the Park reaches another milestone

Posted on June 19, 2018 by danieldschell

46…47…you do the math. But that’s *at least* 50 where I was schooled.

Must be something in the water. All the spring rain, perhaps. Whatever it is, 50 seems to be a popular number in the Chicago skyline these days, as our population of new skyscrapers continues to grow up.

A close look at the numerals stenciled into the front of Essex on the Park show that it too, along with recent 50-achievers Vista Tower and NEMA Chicago, has reached the 50th level. For a 56-story apartment tower, that’s pretty darn close to topping out.

Congratulations to the team of Power Construction, Oxford Capital Group, and Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture, on achieving the milestone. Just a handful of floors to go.

Chicago’s newest tower crane (for a few days) has risen at Milieu

Posted on June 18, 2018 by danieldschell

Glamour shots pic.twitter.com/XPqAufvOL9

— Alex Katz (@AT_Katz) June 15, 2018

If, as is rumored to be the case, the tower crane at 145 South Wells begins assembly today, then Milieu won’t have Chicago’s newest tower crane for very long.

But it’s The New Kid for now, after rising at 205 South Peoria in the West Loop last week. Power Construction will utilize it to build the FitzGerald-designed Milieu, a 19-story, 275-unit apartment development, for White Oak Realty Partners and Crayton Advisors.

Shout-out to Twitter user Alex Katz (@AT_Katz) for letting us know on Friday that the crane was up and running.

: Pool’s almost ready.

GEMS World Academy Upper School gets permission to complete its latest assignment

Posted on June 14, 2018 by danieldschell

With a permit issued Wednesday, the GEMS World Academy Upper School has official permission to complete its 13-story building in Lakeshore East. That allows Power Construction to continue their progress on the bKL Architecture-designed facility. Students are expected to start using the Upper School in Winter 2019.

You can watch progress for yourself by following this link to the youtube construction cam; the cam is also accessible from bKL Archtecture’s GEMS World Academy Upper School page linked above.

: bKL Architecture renderings.

: bKL Architecture rendering.

: The Full-Build Permit.

: GEMS World Academy, the original.

The GR333N-ing of the Fulton Market District continues

Posted on June 12, 2018 by danieldschell

Looking across the tracks at 333 North Green.

Office buildings are a big deal in the West Loop these days. No longer confined to The Loop, Chicago’s professional palaces are sprawling out to other neighborhoods now, and the West Loop leads the way. Not surprising, as this part of town seems to be out in front of most every aspect of development.

We’re keeping a close eye on 333 North Green, or GR333N as it’s been dubbed, partly because it’s cool to look down on Power Construction at work from up on the Halsted Street Bridge. One of Sterling Bay’s recent additions to West Town’s office-building portfolio, 333 North Green will be 19 stories tall and contain 555,000 square feet of office space.

We took a stroll past the site last week, and can offer you these views of progress:

: Keepong the Halsted Street lookie-loos at bay.

Union West sets its foundations on Chicago’s oddest lot

Posted on June 11, 2018 by danieldschell

I made this fancy drawing from Google Maps of the Union West site.

If it’s funny shapes you like, has Union West got the site for you!

Using a plot of land that will touch on all four street fronts of its block, Union West is in the foundation phase on the block bounded by Washington Blvd to the north, Sangamon Street to the east, Madison Street to the south, and Morgan Street to the west.

Last week, we saw some serious iron beams being delivered to Power Construction’s job site. So if you’re hearing loud noises in the West Loop, it’s likely those suckers being driven into the ground. They don’t sink themselves, you know.

Foundation and full-build permits were issued to Union West on April 12 and May 8, respectively, allowing for the bKL Architecture-designed apartment project to start heading skyward. ZOM Living is developing the two-towered complex, which will ultimately deliver 357 apartments, with 12,000+ square feet of ground-floor retail space, and parking spots for 255 cars.

Milieu plants a tower crane stub amidst caisson work

Posted on June 7, 2018 by danieldschell

That’s a fresh tower crane stub at Milieu in the West Loop.

Even as Stalworth Underground continues caisson work at Milieu (205 South Peoria) in the West Loop, something even more exciting has taken over the lot: Power Construction has evened out their tower-crane count after taking down the rig at the Hoxton Chicago by planting a stub on this site.

The Power Crane permit was issued Tuesday the 5th; they wasted no time getting that stub in place. Now, progress on the FitzGerald-designed 19-story, 275-unit apartment building can start going vertical immediately after caisson works wraps up. Yes, the West Loop is going to remain a very busy construction hub for quite some time.

900 West is approaching the finish line

Posted on June 7, 2018 by danieldschell

900 West, in between bouts of Wednesday’s sunshine, will open late this summer.

As I wandered past 900 West (900 West Washington) in the West Loop Wednesday, I couldn’t help but wonder how soon its opening would arrive. And then I got my answer.

The PR firm of Murphy Knott sent over a couple new renderings, along with word that residents would move into the new 10-story condominium tower from Taris Real Estate in a mere 90 days. That’s plenty of time to head out to IKEA and pick out your bookcases, sofas, and computer desks.

900 West, designed by Northworks. Rendering provided by Murphy Knott PR.

Building Up Chicago

An Eye on Chicago Construction.

Tag Archives: Power Construction